The Hundred, EdgbastonBirmingham Phoenix 129-9 (100 balls): Burns 45 (28); Farrant 3-23Oval Invincibles 133-2 (97 balls): Van Niekerk 67* (51)Invincibles win by eight wicketsScorecard. Desk.
Dropped catches value Birmingham Phoenix as Dane van Niekerk guided Oval Invincibles to an eight-wicket victory at Edgbaston within the girls’s Hundred.
Van Niekerk hit a traditional captain’s knock – an assured 67 not out from 51 balls – as Invincibles chased 130 with three balls to spare.
However the Phoenix dropped 4 catches, together with South Africa worldwide Van Niekerk on 41.
Additionally they put down Georgia Adams twice because the Invincibles opener hit 42 in a gap partnership of 90 with Van Niekerk.
Phoenix edged again into the sport after Adams was dismissed however, with 14 wanted from eight balls, Van Niekerk hit a 4 and a six in consecutive balls.
Invincibles keep third within the desk however have six factors, two behind leaders Southern Courageous having performed a sport extra. Phoenix are seventh on two factors and are struggling to succeed in the latter levels.
A captain’s knock after a tactical tweak
Middlesex all-rounder Chris Inexperienced, a BBC pundit for the sport, put it completely on the end.
“Dane van Niekerk, take a bow,” he mentioned. “That was excellent.”
Van Niekerk is the present South Africa captain. She has performed 185 instances for her nation. All of that have confirmed.
When the sport obtained shut on the finish she was the calmest individual in Birmingham and twice whacked Phoebe Franklin for boundaries – the second her clear strike for six over mid-wicket.
Her innings additionally got here after a key tactical tweak.
Oval Invincibles had didn’t chase comparatively simple targets of 113 and 110 of their previous two video games and their in-form skipper promoted herself to the highest of the order from quantity 5.
It paid off large time – the South Africa worldwide giving their innings impetus from the start.
Drops value Phoenix
However Van Niekerk mustn’t have been given the prospect to take her aspect house.
With 60 runs wanted from 41 balls – the sport not at all performed – she mistimed an attacking shot and the ball looped to Kirstie Gordon at mid-off. Gordon moved just a few steps to her left however put down the best of possibilities.
In an enormous swing of momentum, the subsequent two deliveries had been hit for 4.
Gordon was culpable once more quickly after, dropping 16-year-old Alice Capsey, who hit the profitable runs, first ball in a disappointing Phoenix fielding show.
Gwen Davies spilled one other straightforward likelihood to dismiss Adams on 34, letting the ball by her fingers on the boundary edge.
Adams had already been dropped by Katie Mack on 12 however this was a troublesome likelihood operating in from the deep.
These drops value Phoenix the sport and presumably their hopes of profitable the event. With three video games to play they’re 4 factors off third place – the place wanted to qualify for the eliminator.
